The Best Medicine
by J. ROOF
Summary: One shot! McCoy reaches out to Scotty after Pollux IV. No Slash!


This was not beta'ed so forgive the typos. I banged this out on my lunch hour because it was nagging the hell out of me.

To SL Watson and PM conversations.

* * *

Leonard McCoy couldn't stand seeing a friend like Montgomery Scott suffer so much over a woman.

As he walked down to Engineering to find his friend, he reflected on the cause of the crisis. Carolyn Palamas was indeed a beautiful girl. It was easy for McCoy to understand why Scotty would be attracted to her. She was the type he always went for, a slim, blue-eyed, blonde science bunny. And as always, she was totally out of Scotty's league.

McCoy's biggest mistake had been telling that to Jim instead of Scotty. Of course in his personal as well as professional experience, that sort of opinion was often ignored until it was too late. So, his opinions on the relationship between Scotty and Lieutenant Palamas were irrelevant at this point.

Scotty found out the hard way that his feelings for the lieutenant were one sided. She cast him aside in favor of a self-proclaimed alien god and gave herself freely to that alien until the captain reminded her that her place was with Starfleet. Since leaving Pollux IV, Scotty seemed heartsick over the slight. Over the last few weeks he had thrown himself into his work. That normally wouldn't bother the doctor. But the fact that Scotty had also become withdrawn from his friends was cause for concern.

It hadn't gone unnoticed. Even the captain questioned the mental stability of his second officer. But the captain could never relate to the situation Scotty was in like he could. Jim never had a problem with the ladies, and even Spock could get himself laid every now and then. But men like himself and Scotty were rarely lucky in love, and the loneliness got a little old after awhile. He knew first hand it could make a man feel jaded and bitter.

That morning, McCoy discovered that Carolyn Palamas was pregnant. The damage was done, and as a doctor and friend, he was going to do what he could in support of Scotty. He certainly didn't want him to find out about the pregnancy through ship's rumor mill, and he wasn't so sure that Lieutenant Palamas would be very forthcoming. She certainly hadn't given him much information when he questioned her about it, and McCoy felt that if a man was going to father a child, he should damn well know about it.

When McCoy reached Engineering he walked in to Scotty's office and set down the only medical equipment he would need for the task at hand, a bottle of Jack Daniels and two shot glasses.

The engineer looked up from his work and McCoy began, "A nun, a priest, an Orion, a Vulcan, a Scotsman, a rabbi and a blonde walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and asks, "Is this some kind of joke?"

Nothing from Scotty, not even a chuckle.

"Carolyn is pregnant, Scotty."

Scotty's eyes dropped down to his desk for a moment before shifting back up at McCoy.

"I'm waitin' for the punch line, Doc."

McCoy sighed and cracked open the bottle of Jack. "I'm probably breaking every medical ethics code there is telling you this, but I wanted you to hear it from a friend. It's no joke, Carolyn is pregnant."

He poured two shots and handed one to Scotty, waiting for him to say something. Scotty slugged the shot back and handed the glass to McCoy. He said nothing and picked at his fingernails while McCoy poured him another shot. McCoy finally prodded, "Well?"

"Well what? I didn't fuck her…..that _fucking_ bitch," Scotty said with disgust, drinking the next shot and setting the glass down hard on the desk.

It wasn't so much disgust that McCoy detected in Scotty's voice. It was more hurt and anger. Hurt and angry that he had been played. The same hurt and anger McCoy felt himself when he found out his ex-wife cheated on him all those years ago. When he enlisted in Starfleet he hoped he could escape those feelings by getting as far away as he could from their source. Over time he realized that the source was within him. He had been angrier with himself than his wife for the mistakes he had made while they were married.

McCoy sat down across from Scotty and downed his own shot. "You sure about that?"

"I think I would bloody well remember somethin' like that."

"Well, based on the timing, it would have to be Apollo then."

Scotty frowned and stared at his hands again. "I think I'm gonna be sick. I feel like a damn fool."

"I'm sorry, Scotty. I've never understood why the nice guy always has to finish last. Frankly I don't get it. What kind of woman wouldn't choose the guy willing to get his ass handed to him while defending her honor? "

"I knew what he was up to when I saw how he looked at her. And the way she just _went_ with him," Scotty said quietly.

"Maybe she went with him to learn from him or to protect us........... I don't know. But I'm sure in the beginning her intentions were good. In the end she did what Jim asked. I also have to say that it was obvious from the start that she didn't feel the same way about you, as you did about her. Some women feed off that."

McCoy poured two more shots and the men drank them silently. Scotty turned the empty glass in his hand. "Part of me hates him and part of me wants to hate her."

"Scotty, let me tell you something," McCoy said, leaning back in his chair. "Anger is a cancer. It eats at you from the inside. We think we can use anger as a weapon. That hate will hurt the people who've harmed us. But one thing I've learned about hate, is that half the people you think you hate, don't even know you hate them. And the other half? Well, they don't give a rat's ass anyway."

Scotty lifted his eyes listening to the doctor intently and McCoy saw the anger change to sorrow.

"Let it go Scotty, let it go. Hatred cuts like a sickle and the harm we do, we do to ourselves. To be able to move on, you need to forgive…. for your sake."

Scotty slowly nodded his head, understanding what his friend was trying to convey.

McCoy rose from his chair. "That being said, I'm getting dinner and calling it a night. I suggest you do the same."

"One more thing," he said before leaving. "A Greek and a Scotsman were sitting in a bar one day discussing who had the superior culture. Over drinks the Greek guy says, 'Well, we Greeks built the Parthenon.' The Scotsman says, 'Well ... it was the Scots that discovered the Summer and Winter Solstices.' The Greek retorts, `We Greeks gave birth to advanced mathematics.' The Scotsman nods and says, 'Scots were the ones who built the first timepieces and calendars.' And so on until the Greek comes up with what he thinks will end the discussion. With a flourish of finality he says, 'The Greeks were the ones who invented sex! 'The Scotsman replies, `Indeed, that is true, but it was we Scots who introduced it to women."

A slow smile spread over Scotty's face as McCoy turned to walk out the door, and he heard a reassuring sound that he hadn't heard in weeks.

It was the sound of Scotty's laughter.


End file.
